2022-2023 B1G Basketball Thread

[boilerbanger]

Purdue related:  Friday Night's game vs Nebraska will be a big one - according to Sports-Reference.com - we can win our 1,900th game and Painter would win his 400th game at Purdue. We would be the first to win 1900 in the Big Ten.

[ELA]

PG Niccolo Moretti commits to Illinois.  Apparently will be able to join the team soon and provide some depth at the position.  Pretty much confirms what was assumed that Skyy Clark will not be coming back.  Illinois has looked better since Clark has left.  Addition by subtraction?  We will see.

This is probably the spot to get right.  Illinois gets 4 of 6 at home, with the 2 road games coming against the two worst teams, Nebraska and Minnesota.

2-0 start, 6-0 is very doable.  What's the toughest game?  Home against Ohio State?

[boilerbanger]

I would say at Wisconsin is 1a and Ohio State is 1b

[medinabuckeye1]

Big game for the Hoosiers getting underway. They were preseason favorites and if they don't win tonight they'll be almost hopelessly far behind. 

[bayareabadger]

Big game for the Hoosiers getting underway. They were preseason favorites and if they don't win tonight they'll be almost hopelessly far behind.

I would like them to win so they are less desperate come Saturday.

/checks score

Ahhh horse feathers 

[medinabuckeye1]

I would like them to win so they are less desperate come Saturday.

/checks score

Ahhh horse feathers

This is a disastrous start for a preseason favorite. They are five games in (one quarter of the season) and three games down on the leaders and in 13th place.

[medinabuckeye1]

Trying to figure out what to think of the Hoosiers:  
First off, they clearly are not where they were expected to be.  They were preseason favorites and 1/4 of the way through the season they are three games down on PU/MSU.  That said there are still optimistic and pessimistic ways to look at them:

Optimistically:
Three of their four losses were on the road (RU, IA, PSU) and two of the four losses were one-possession games (IA, NU).  If they had hit an extra bucket each in the Iowa and Northwestern games they'd be 3-2 right now and tied with Wisconsin for 4th behind only PU, MSU and M.  

Pessimistically:
Their only league win was at home over Nebraska and three of the four losses were BAD:

• Northwestern because it was at home . . . and to Northwestern.  
• Rutgers because it was a 15 point loss.  
• Penn State because it was a 19 point loss.  

Their next five games (so next 1/4 of the season to get to the half-way point) seem reasonably manageable:

• vs Wisconsin on Saturday 1 CBS
• @ Illinois next Thursday, 830 FS1
• vs Michigan State next Sunday noon CBS
• @ Minnesota Wednesday, 1/26 9 BTN
• vs Ohio State Saturday, 1/28 8 Fox

It isn't crazy to imagine them winning the home games and beating Minnesota and getting to 5-5 but Indiana's margin for error is shrinking and while I could see them beating Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Ohio State at home I could also see them losing any or all of those games.  

[medinabuckeye1]

So tonight we have two games:

• Minnesota at Ohio State at 630 on FS1
• Michigan at Iowa at 7 on ESPN2

The Buckeyes are favored by 14.5 and honestly that seems low to me. I'll be concerned if the Buckeyes don't cover.

The other game is more interesting. Iowa is favored by 5.5 at home. I don't know what to think of either team. Iowa looked great their last two times out with a win over Indiana and a win in Piscataway. However, their three games prior to that were losses to Penn State, Nebraska, and . . . (checks notes), Eastern Illinois. 

Michigan is no less unpredictable. They see Iowa's loss to Directional-Illinois and raise them a loss to Directional-Michigan. They see Iowa's win in Piscataway and raise them a 35 point demolition of Maryland. 

[rolltidefan]

This is a disastrous start for a preseason favorite. They are five games in (one quarter of the season) and three games down on the leaders and in 13th place.

the 1 and 2 picks for most everyone for sec (uk and arky) are a combine 2-6 in sec play (1-3 each).

unc is currently 3-3 in acc.

creighton and nova (1-2 for be) are 3-3 and 2-4.

baylor is 1-3 in bigxii.

ucla is the only preseason major conf favorite to actually be in good shape right now.

[FearlessF]

pre-season polls are meaningless

in all sports

[medinabuckeye1]

the 1 and 2 picks for most everyone for sec (uk and arky) are a combine 2-6 in sec play (1-3 each).

unc is currently 3-3 in acc.

creighton and nova (1-2 for be) are 3-3 and 2-4.

baylor is 1-3 in bigxii.

ucla is the only preseason major conf favorite to actually be in good shape right now.

I was only vaguely aware of some of these.

The way I follow CBB is vastly different from the way I follow CFB.

This year is a great example. My school effectively competed directly with Bama, TN, LSU, and other teams from around the country for a CFP spot:

• #5 Bama finished 10-2, if they had beaten either TN or LSU they'd have been 11-1 and probably taken tOSU's spot.
• #6 TN finished 10-2, if they had beaten USCe they'd likely have taken tOSU's spot and if they had beaten UGA they'd have displaced UGA in the SECCG and UGA would have taken tOSU's spot.
• #7 Clemson finished 11-2 with an ACC Championship, if they had beaten either ND or USCe, they'd have taken tOSU's spot.
• #8 Utah and #9 KSU both finished 10-3 with P5 Championships. If either had beaten two out of three of UF/UCLA/Oregon or Tulane/TCU/TX, they'd have taken tOSU's spot.
• #10 USC finished 11-2. If they had beaten Utah in the second game they'd have taken tOSU's spot and if they had beaten Utah in the first game then they wouldn't have had to play Utah in the second game.

Thus Bama's, Tennessee's, Clemson's, Utah's, KSU's, and USC's games impacted my team.

There were also a slew of other teams that just missed being that close so their losses also impacted my team. Following the top teams in each league isn't just about following the sport in general, it is also about my team.

In basketball things are very different. All the top teams in the leagues you listed are going to the tournament. It makes no difference to my team whether those top teams end up being Arkansas and Kentucky as expected or Alabama and Tennessee (current leaders).


The result of all of this, at least for me, is that I really don't care about CBB nationally until the Tournament. I know there will be some SEC teams in the tournament but I could care less if Arkansas and Kentucky get in while Bama and Tennessee host NIT games or vice-versa so I don't care who wins the AR/TN and Bama/Kentucky games.

[medinabuckeye1]

This is pathetic even if tOSU pulls it out. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

The Buckeyes are favored by 14.5 and honestly that seems low to me. I'll be concerned if the Buckeyes don't cover.

Holtmann January?

[medinabuckeye1]

This is pathetic even if tOSU pulls it out.

Nevermind.